Carafes

ABSTRACT

A PLASTIC DRINKING WATER CARAFE PORTION WITH A REMOVABLE COVER HAVING AN INTEGRAL HINGED LID PORTION WHICH IS NORMALLY YIELDABLY SNAP-LOCKED IN A CLOSED CONDITION HUT WHICH COVER LID CAN BE READILY MANUALLY RELEASED FOR SWINGING MOVEMENT UPWARDLY TO AN PEN POSITION TO EXPOSE A RESTRICTED OPENING THROUGH WHICH WATER CAN BE POURED FROM THE CARAFE, SAID DISCHARGE OPENING BEING SMALL ENOUGH TO PREVENT ICE CUBES IN THE CARAFE FROM FALLING THEREFROM, WHICH CAN CAUSE ANNOYING SPLASHING OR SPILLAGE.

p 20, 1971 c. H. RICKMEIER, JR 3,606,104

'CARAFES Filed Nov. 10, 1969 INVENTOR CARL H. RICKMEI ER, JR.

ATTORNEYS 3,606,104 CARAFES Carl H. Rickmeier, Jr., Sheboygan, Wis.,assignor to The Vollrath C0., Sheboygan, Wis. Filed Nov. 10, 1969, Ser.No. 875,341 Int. Cl. 365d /72 US. Cl. 222-498 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A plastic drinking water carafe provided with a removablecover having an integral hinged lid portion which is normally yieldablysnap-locked in a closed condition but which cover lid can be readilymanually released for swinging movement upwardly to an open position toexpose a restricted opening through which water can be poured from thecarafe, said discharge opening being small enough to prevent ice cubesin the carafe from falling therefrom, which can cause annoying splashingor spillage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to water vessels. More particularly the invention relates todrinking water carafes for use in hospitals.

Description of the prior art The conventional vessels employed inhospitals or other institutions for holding drinking water ordinarilyconsist of an open-top pitcher or carafe which is positioned on thepatients bedside table. When a patient desires a drink he pours thewater from the vessel into his drinking glass. Unfortunately, with suchopen-top pitchers or carafes the ice cubes therein frequently fall outof the vessel during the pouring operation, particularly when thepatient is attempting to pour from a lying-down or partially proneposition, which causes spillage on the bedside table. The object of thepresent invention is to eliminate this hazard.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a carafe with atop cover adapted to be removed to permit the vessel to be filled withdrinking water, as well as ice cubes, which cover member is providedwith a hinged lid that can be swung to a raised position when it isdesired to pour a drink, said raised lid exposing a relatively smallopening allowing water to be freely poured from the carafe whilepreventing the escape of ice cubes therefrom. The result is that withsaid improved carafe it is possible to pour a drink without splashing orspilling water on the bedside table.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drinking water carafewherein the top opening and pouring lip are covered when the carafe isnot in use, thereby promoting sanitation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new, improvedcarafe which can be formed entirely of plastic, which is relativelyinexpensive to manufacture as well as being durable.

A further object is to provide a plastic water carafe, as described,which is light in weight for easy handling.

Still further objects of the present invention are to provide a new,improved drinking water carafe which is otherwise particularly welladapted for its intended purposes, as will become apparent hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing, whereinone preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, the same ref-United States Patent 0 "ice 3,606,104 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 erencenumerals designating the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the complete carafe comprising theinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing the covermember with the lid therein in an open position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the carafe topportion in pouring position;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the carafe top portionwith a part thereof shown in section; and

FIG. 5 is atop plan view of the carafe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularlyto FIG. 1 of the drawing, illustrated therein is the complete watervessel, or so-called carafe, comprising the present invention. Inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, said carafeis formed of a resilient plastic such as polyethylene, whichis durableas well as being relatively inexpensive. It is to be understood,however, that other comparable materials could also be utilized; theinvention is not to be limited in this respect. Moreover, while theillustrated carafe is contoured for easy gripping, the shape, as well asthe size, of said carafe is not a critical feature of the presentinvention.

Said plastic carafe includes a generally cylindrical body 10 having atop cover member 11 removably fitted on the upper end thereof, the upperend of said body abutting the underside of said cover with a dependingportion of said cover surrounding said body upper portion. As bestappears in FIG. 4, said cover member 11 includes a ninwardly-protrudingshoulder 12 formed on the depending, cylindrical portion thereof whichis designed to be removably snapped into a complementary annular channel13 in the upper portion of said carafe body to separably secure saidcover thereon. Thus said top cover member can be readily temporarilyremoved when it is desired to fill the carafe with fresh water, therebeing a shoulder 19 formed on the exterior of said cover beneath which ausers thumb can be positioned to facilitate the disengagement of saidmembers, it being a simple matter to again mount said cover over theupper end of the body when the water supply has been replenishedtherein. In this respect, however, it is to be understood that said bodyand cover members could as well be formed with interfitting threads, orother means for separably joining the same, without departing from thespirit or intended scope of the invention.

With reference still to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the upper wall ofthe cover member 11 has a longitudinal notch or indentation 14 formed onthe underside thereof, which notched line forms a hinge of reducedthickness extending across and between spaced points located on theperiphery of said cover to define a generally semicircular lid 15. Aswill be seen, said lid 15 includes a downwardly-directed flange portion15, there being a lip 16 (FIG. 4) formed integrally on the inner surfaceof said lid flange which is designed to snap lock beneath a coactingshoulder element 17 formed on the cover. A protruding tab or shoulder 18on said lid exterior permits a user to readily forcibly disengage saidinterfitting resilient locking elements when it is desired to open thelid, said lid 15 then being swingable upwardly about the hinge line 14from its normal position flush with the surface of the cover to theraised, open position illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Due to the design ofsaid hinge element when said lid member is swung upwardly it tends toremain in said open position until manually urged downwardly again.

The depending portion of the cover 11 has an arcuate recess 30 extendinginwardly through part of the thickness of the depending portion of thecover. This recess is bounded by a, circumferential shoulder 31 and byend shoulders 32. The recess is positioned to receive the lid flange 15when the lid is in the closed position of FIGS. 1 and 4 and, whenclosed, it is to be noted from FIG. 1 that the ends of the lid flange15' are adjacent the ends 32 of the cover recess and that the arcuatelower edge of the lid flange is closed against the circumferentialshoulder 31. It is also to be noted from FIG. 1 that, when the lid isclosed, the outer surface of the flange 15 of the lid is substantiallyflush with the outer surface of the depending portion of the cover 11.

As is shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing, the opening 21 at the upper end ofthe body which is partially exposed when the cover lid 15 is swungupwardly to its open position is of suflicient size to permit the readydischarge of water from the carafe, as indicated diagrammatically by thearrows in said drawing, but said opening is small enough to prevent theescape of ice cubes 22 therefrom.

The result is that with the present invention a hospital patient orattendant can pour a drink 'without the ice cubes falling from thecarafe, which is apt to cause the water to splash or spill on the besidetable. This is a distinct improvement over the conventional open-topwater pitchers or carafes heretofore utilized in hospitals. Moreover, incontrast to said conventional, open-top vessels, the cover memberfeatured in the present invention promotes sanitation by keeping boththe top opening and pouring lip covered when the carafe is not in use.

While the present invention has been designed primarily for use inhospitals, it can also be advantageously employed for numerous otherapplications, of course. The invention is by no means to be limited inthis respect. Similarly, while one preferred embodiment of the newcarafe structure has been disclosed in detail herein, numerousvariations or modifications thereof will undoubtedly occur to thoseskilled in the art. What is intended to be covered herein, therefore, isnot only the illustrated form of the invention but also any variationsor modifications thereof as may come within the spirit of saidinvention.

What I claim is:

1. A carafe formed of resilient plastic comprising a body of circularcross section having a flat bottom and an open top, a circular coverremovably mounted on the upper end of said body, said cover having aflat top with an annular depending portion fitting over the upper end ofsaid body, an outer portion of the top of said cover being swingable ona chordal hinge line which extends from one side of the periphery of thecover top to the opposite side, said hinge line being substantiallyshorter than the diameter of said top and defining a lid which issubstantially less than semi-circular, the peripheral portion of saidlid having a depending flange throughout its length provided with endportions and with an arcuate lower edge, the depending portion of saidcover having an arcuate recess extending inwardly through part of itsthickness, which recess is bounded by a circumferential shoulder and byend shoulders, said recess being positioned to receive the lid flangewhen the lid is in closed position, with the ends of the lid flangepositioned adjacent the ends of the cover recess and with the arcuatelower edge of the lid flange closed against the circumferential shoulderof the cover, and means for releasably holding the lid in closedposition.

2. A carafe as claimed in claim 1 in which the thickness of the lidflange is such with respect to the depth of the adjacent cover recessthat when the lid is closed the outer surface of the flange of the lidis substantially flush with the outer surface of the depending portionof the cover.

3. A carafe as claimed in claim 1 in which the hinge line is formed byan indentation line on the underside of the cover whereby the lid isnormally urged to a partially-raised position.

4. A carafe as claimed in claim 1 in which there is an annular,outwardly-opening, recessed channel formed in the upper portion of thebody spaced below the upper end thereof, and in which the cover hasinwardly-extending projecting means removably snapped into said recessedchannel of the body to removably secure the cover in position.

5. A carafe as claimed in claim 1 in which the cooperating means on thelid and cover for releasably holding the lid in closed positioncomprises an outwardly-projecting shoulder on the recessed portion ofthe cover above the circumferential shoulder and an inwardly-projectinglip on the interior of the lid flange positioned to snap beneath saidshoulder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,950,847 8/ 1960 Tupper 222-556X3,018,931 1/1962 Westgate 222556X 3,212,686 10/1965 Pierro et al.222556X 3,227,330 1/ 1966 Sadler 222-556X 3,499,588 3/1970 Bartilson eta1 222556 M. H-ENSON WOOD, In, Primary Examiner M. Y. MAR, AssistantExaminer U.S. Cl. X.R. 222533, 556, 562

